The Funny Creatures of Maple Lane -
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The Funny Creatures of Maple Lane
A Maple Lane Mystery
There were three things everyone in Maplewood knew about Maple Lane.
First, Maple Lane was not actually a lane.
It was a street.
Second, nobody could agree why it had been named Maple Lane when there were exactly four maple trees on it.
And third—
Something strange happened at Maplewood Baptist every time the church had a business meeting.
Nobody knew exactly what it was.
Until Tori Rae Watson met the creatures.
It started on a Tuesday afternoon at Honey Bee's Book Nook.
Tori was shelving a stack of mysteries when the bell over the door jingled.
Jingle-jangle!
In walked Aimee Little carrying three boxes.
Behind her came Dek Fox with a clipboard tucked under one arm and a look on his face that suggested the clipboard had personally offended him.
"I have bad news," Aimee announced.
Tori Rae looked up.
"How bad?"
Aimee put down the boxes.
"Church-potluck-with-no-dessert bad."
Tori gasped.
Dek sighed.
"Someone has stolen the church's new sign."
Tori blinked.
"The wooden one?"
"The wooden one."
"The one that says Maplewood Baptist: Come As You Are?"
"The very same."
Tori put down her stack of books.
"Who steals a church sign?"
Dek held up his clipboard.
"Someone who doesn't want to be invited."
They found the first clue behind the church.
It wasn't a footprint.
It wasn't a fingerprint.
It wasn't even a suspicious piece of string.
It was a tiny tuft of blue fur.
Tori crouched.
Aimee crouched beside her.
Dek crouched because everyone else was crouching.
"Do you see it?" Tori whispered.
Aimee nodded.
Dek frowned.
"That wasn't there yesterday."
Tori picked it up.
It was soft.
Very soft.
Almost ridiculously soft.
Then she heard something.
A tiny sneeze.
Achoo!
Tori spun around.
Nothing.
Another sneeze.
Achoo!
She looked underneath the church steps.
And there, curled into a tiny blue ball, was a creature.
It had enormous ears.
Little round feet.
A nose like a button.
And a tail that looked suspiciously like a feather duster.
It was trembling.
"Hello," Tori whispered.
The creature opened one eye.
"Too much."
"What?"
The creature sat up.
"TOO MUCH!"
Then it ran directly into a flowerpot.
Aimee stared.
Dek stared.
Tori stared.
The creature rubbed its forehead.
"Sorry."
Tori lowered herself onto the step.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Then what are you?"
The creature thought about this.
"I'm a Too-Much."
Aimee whispered, "There are creatures called Too-Muches?"
"There are now."
The creature pointed one tiny paw toward the church.
"Too many meetings."
Point.
"Too many opinions."
Point.
"Too many people saying, 'We've never done it that way before.'"
Point.
"And too many cookies with raisins."
Tori nodded solemnly.
"That last one is understandable."
The creature sniffed.
"They don't mean to be bad."
"Who?"
"The people."
The Too-Much curled its tail around its feet.
"They get worried. Then they worry about worrying. Then they worry that everyone else is worried."
Tori looked at Aimee.
Aimee looked at Dek.
Dek slowly lowered his clipboard.
"That sounds familiar."
Then they heard another noise.
Scritch.
Something moved behind the bushes.
Tori peeked around the corner.
A second creature popped out.
This one was yellow.
It had skinny legs and enormous eyes.
"That's a Squirmy," said the Too-Much.
The yellow creature immediately began pacing.
Back.
Forth.
Back.
Forth.
"I can't stop thinking!"
"About what?" asked Tori.
"Everything!"
"That's a lot."
"I know!"
The Squirmy paced faster.
"What if they don't like the new sign?"
Pace.
"What if they like the old sign?"
Pace.
"What if nobody likes either sign?"
Pace.
"What if we picked the wrong shade of blue?"
Pace.
"What if—"
Tori gently placed one hand on its head.
"Stop."
The creature froze.
Tori smiled.
"Just for a minute."
The Squirmy looked surprised.
"Just for a minute?"
"Just for a minute."
So they all sat down.
The Too-Much.
The Squirmy.
Aimee.
Dek.
And Tori.
Nobody talked.
Nobody solved anything.
Nobody made a decision.
Nobody formed a committee.
They just sat.
And after a little while, the creatures became smaller.
Not gone.
Just smaller.
"That's the trick," said the Too-Much.
"What is?" asked Tori.
"We don't need to disappear."
The Squirmy nodded.
"We just need someone to notice us."
Tori smiled.
"And what happens when someone notices you?"
The Too-Much shrugged.
"Sometimes we have something important to say."
"Like what?"
The little creature pointed toward the church.
"That everyone is tired."
The Squirmy added:
"And scared."
"And trying very hard."
"And pretending they aren't."
"And forgetting why they started."
Tori's smile faded.
Because suddenly this wasn't about a missing sign.
It was about Maplewood.
It was about churches.
It was about people.
It was about how easily something beautiful could become something everybody was afraid to touch.
Then Dek stood.
"I think I know where the sign is."
Everyone stared at him.
"Where?"
He pointed across the street.
At the old storage shed.
The door was slightly open.
They walked over.
Tori pulled the door wide.
And there it was.
The church sign.
Leaning against a stack of folding chairs.
Beside it sat a third creature.
This one was enormous.
Purple.
Round.
And wearing what appeared to be a tiny pair of reading glasses.
Tori blinked.
"Who are you?"
The creature sighed.
"I'm the What-If-Worm."
Aimee groaned.
"Oh no."
The Worm pushed its glasses up.
"I borrowed the sign."
"Why?"
"Because I was worried."
"About what?"
The Worm looked down.
"What if the new sign doesn't fix anything?"
Nobody laughed.
Because that was actually a pretty good question.
Tori sat beside him.
"It won't."
The Worm looked up.
"It won't?"
"No."
"But then—"
"A sign isn't going to fix a church."
The Too-Much nodded.
"The people have to."
Tori smiled.
"And people don't fix churches by becoming perfect."
She looked at the little creatures.
"They fix them by noticing what's happening."
Aimee smiled.
"Listening."
Dek added, "Changing."
"And remembering why they're there."
The What-If-Worm sniffled.
"Can we put the sign back?"
Tori stood.
"I think that's exactly what we should do."
The next Sunday, the sign went back up.
MAPLEWOOD BAPTIST
COME AS YOU ARE
Nobody noticed the tiny blue creature sitting behind it.
Nobody saw the yellow Squirmy hiding underneath the bushes.
Nobody saw the purple What-If-Worm watching from the church basement window.
But Tori did.
And whenever the meeting got a little loud...
Whenever somebody started worrying...
Whenever somebody said, "We've never done it that way before..."
Tori would quietly tap the table.
Once.
Twice.
And smile.
Because she knew something the others didn't.
There were creatures in Maplewood.
There were creatures everywhere.
The Grumblers.
The Squirmies.
The What-Ifs.
The Too-Muches.
The Never-Enoughs.
The Nobody-Likes-Mes.
The I-Can'ts.
The What-Will-They-Thinks.
And every single one of them had a message.
Not:
"Something is wrong with me."
But:
"Something needs my attention."
And that, Tori Rae Watson decided, was a very different kind of mystery.
And the creatures' final song went something like this:
When the day gets much too loud,
And your worries form a crowd,
Don't chase them off. Don't make them flee.
Just say, "Oh! I see you, creature-me."The Grumble may need food.
The Squirmy may need space.
The What-If may need breathing room.
The Too-Much needs a quieter place.Your feelings aren't your enemy.
They're knocking at the door.
So listen for their little voice—
Then choose what happens next.And if your creatures grow enormous
and take over the whole town...
Call Tori Rae Watson.She'll probably bring coffee.
And that was how the Great Creature Mystery of Maple Lane began.
Because the missing sign was only the first mystery.
The real mystery was much bigger:
What happens when an entire little town finally learns how to listen to what's happening inside its people?
And Tori had a feeling Maplewood was about to find out.
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